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The
United States Supreme Court this morning reduced the amount of punitive damages
Exxon Mobil must pay for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Instead of the 2.5
billion dollars that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the
company should pay in 2006, the high court set the amount at 507.5 million
dollars--equal to the compensatory damages victims of the spill have already
received.

The
court was divided 5-3 on the decision. Justice David Souter wrote in the
majority opinion that the court believed, “the punitive damages award against
Exxon was excessive as a matter of maritime common law.” Justice Samuel Alito
didn’t take part in the decision, because he owns stock in Exxon Mobil.

Kodiak
attorney Matt Jamin, who represents plaintiffs in the case, called the decision
“A terrible blow to the people of Alaska.” He said he expects the award to
include interest and believes it will be three months before any money will be
available to the victims.

Mary
Jacobs, a Kodiak salmon fisherman at the time of the oil spill and one of the many local plaintiffs, called the
decision “disappointing” and said she had hoped the court would at least keep
the damages above a billion dollars.

More than
32-thousand victims of the spill have been waiting nearly 20 years for the case
to resolve. The original punitive damages amount was 5-billion dollars set by
an Anchorage jury in 1994.

Tune
in to KMXT throughout the day for updates as we learn more information.